


Gravity

by katiebuttercup



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Multi, Mutual Pining, lenore doesn't know how she feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-10-16 04:51:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10563987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiebuttercup/pseuds/katiebuttercup
Summary: Lenore may never admit it but she is happy with the life she's created on enterprise. So of course Spock and Jim have to complicate matters





	1. False starts

Disclaimer: all characters belong to their respective owners 

Lenore wakes to quarters that don't belong to her. They're familiar though and soon the panic at waking up somewhere other than her own bed fades back to the corners of her still half asleep brain.

After a few seconds of analysis she realises she's in Jim's quarters, squashed into the cushions of his couch, a heavy blanket wrapped snugly around her. She wipes the sleep from her eyes and then the panic rears up again when she realises she is being watched.

"Spock you nearly gave me a damn heart attack" Lenore growls as the half Vulcan moves into a patch of light. 

"My apologies I came to check on your status, I did not expect you to be awake."

"I'm fine!" Lenore says, but the scratch in her throat defies her. 

"You fell asleep during my last chess game with Jim and before that showed signs of continued flu like symptoms." Spock says as a counter argument.

"I'm just run down. I'm glad I helped develop a vaccine for those people on Severus II, I just didn't know it would kick me in the butt as well."

"I reasoned to Jim that you should take the bed to sleep off your ailment but he said that you sleep light and would be disturbed if we did so."

Something warm and soft settle on Lenore's chest. For all his bravado and swagger, Jim was a good friend. She had no intention of letting Jim know she felt that way.

"I told you I'm not sick!" Lenore says, leavering herself up. The world tilts sickeningly as she does so. A second later and a firm yet gentle hand settles on her shoulder. 

"You have failed to put your own health first and as a result have become ill..."

Anger was better then any medicine. It gave her the strength to sit up properly and make a move to stand even if her muscles protested.

"What did you just say to me?"

Something very human passes over Spock's features and he holds up a hand to forstall her anger.

"I did not mean it in the context you have obviously taken my words. I simply meant that you have put others needs ahead of your own and have been affected negatively."

"Isn't that your whole credo? The needs of the many..."

"The enterprise requires a CMO at full health.."

"I am fine!" Lenore bites out. "And even if I wasn't there's still Christine and M'Benga if you are so concerned about sickbay."

"It is not. My concern lies with you"

And there it is. 

Lenore opens her mouth but she can't think of a reply. She blames the fog in her head. 

There's a shift, Lenore can't place what it is or why it has happened only that lately Spock has, on numerous occasions seemed overly concerned with her health and wellbeing. It's all in his parameters as first officer but it has struck a strange and untouched chord inside of her.

It's a strange feeling to be a part of a family again, especially on a space ship but she is and she's leaned if not to love space travel then to love her fellow travellers. 

Jim has always been free with his affection but lately it's been tinged slightly differently. It's likely since his relationship with Spock had gone public. 

It's a sigh of relief for all concerned, she can't deny that the months of tension weighted on her until she had developed a plan to lock Spock and Jim in sickbay until something gave. 

So she's happy for her friends, she just can't understand why instead of enjoying the honeymoon period of their relationship they are bothering her.

No. Bothering is the wrong word. Shs struggles to find a better one and comes up short. 

It's just so strange. 

Which leads back to tonight and waking up in Jim, and now Spock's quarters. 

Game night has become a staple, although really it's just chat between the three of them and then Lenore watching Spock best Jim at chess in a variety of different and creative ways.

After the news had broken of Spock and Jim's relationship she had attempted to give them space. Certainly their busy schedules would make private time difficult. Spending all day on the bridge together was different then sharing private time and Lenore wanted to let them have their peace. 

Except that lately Spock and Jim had been insistent on her presence. She figures Jim was overcompensating. Friendship was almost sacred to Jim. Maybe he was scared that their friendship would deteriorate if he spent all his time with Spock.

Lenore made a mental note to slap him upside the head and tell him they weren't in high school and she wasn't jealous if Jim wanted to hang out with his boyfriend instead of her.

Lenore rubs at her temples, "Spock, not that this sudden concern you have for my health isn't...."

Weird 

Strange 

Misplaced

"....appreciated but I can take care of myself. Have done for awhile now"

Spock folds his hands carefully on the back of the couch. 

"Perhaps what Jim and I are trying to convey is that you don't have to."

"Did you go on a human team building course when I wasn't looking?" Lenore asks, only partially joking. "Look Spock, I know that no man is an island. If i thought that I couldn't do my job I'd tell M'benga. I'm not stupid to think I'm indispensable."

"And yet when Jim and I attempt to offer you help you will not take it"

"You aren't my mama and neither is Jim. I can kick a not so commmon cold. I'm old. I'm not decrepid. Yet."

Against her will a yawn emerges Her whole body achingas if she had been lifting boulders all day. 

Spock's attention shifts back to the bedroom as if he had heard a noise. Damn Vulcan hearing.

Spock's features soften. It soothes some of the sharp edges in Lenore. 

The kid's were in love. She was just old and cranky.

"Go back to Jim and if he starts snoring it's perfectly acceptable to smother him with his own pillow." Lenore says, settling back down in her make shift bed. 

Spock's features remain open in a way that she's never seen before as his attention turns to her. 

"Indeed. I shall endeavour to remember your advice."

There it was again. The warmth that flared between them. A joke. A smile. 

Lenore threw the blanket over her face so Spock couldn't see the pinkness staining her cheeks. 

She was too damn sick for this nonsense.


	2. Chapter 2

There are few things that Lenore loves more than a well run sickbay. For the first time in a long time Lenore has something that feels like hers. 

Of course officially it is starfleet's equipment but in these four walls it is Lenore's. She knows every inch of sickbay, every machine and crevice. 

She trusts every member of her team, Lenore, for once, is in complete control. 

This certainty is shaken when on one of her nearly made biobeds, Jim sits reading a data pad. 

"What have you done to yourself now, Jim?" Lenore asks, trying to keep her dismay at bay. 

Jim grins at her, it is a thing of beauty. 

"Here for my physical, Bones" he shucks his shirt over his head.

Discreetly Lenore touches her communicator. When Spock answers crisply, Lenore says, without taking her eyes off Jim, "has Jim eaten anything weird lately?"

"Negative, the captain has complied with the diet shift you suggested." There is a pause where Lenore knows she's talking to the Spock who is Jim's lover.

"Is there some anomaly in the captain's behaviour?"

"No." Lenore says reluctantly. She doesn't like not knowing. 

"I will be with you in a moment," Spock says, and then signs off.

"Put your shirt back on!" Lenore says. She'll get to the bottom of this if it kills Jim. 

"I don't know what the big deal is," Jim says, making no move to put his gold shirt back on.

Lenore scans Jim's body but there is no abnormal signs. Jim is perfectly healthy, but there's something off. Usually Lenore has to drag Kirk into sickbay kicking and screaming.

A few moments later Spock enters the room, calm and placid as ever. He takes in Jim on the biobed and then Lenore. 

"Can I assist you Doctor?"

"Why is Jim suddenly so eager for a physical all of a sudden?"

Spock's eyebrow raises, "it is starfleet protcol that each member of staff receive a physical at a pre set time to ensure crew fitness. The captain was given this date and has appeared at the allotted time. I see nothing which would cause alarm"

"You hate having a physical," Lenore says to Jim. 

Jim shrugs, boyishly innocent, "what can I say Bones your healing hands have converted me"

Lenore frowns, the tone of Jim's voice is familiar, she's been his wingman enough times to hear the flirtation in his tone. But it's never been directed at her before. Or at least not seriously. She glances at Spock, but the Vulcan seems completely at ease. 

"Fine I'll get M'benga if you are so desperate to fulfill regs"

"Ah c'mon Bones," Jim wheedles, "what's a bit of skin between friends?"

A lot

Too much. 

"Are you not the Captain's primarily physician?" Spock asked oh so innocently. 

Lenore can't help but think she's under test conditions but she's not sure what's being asked of her. Lenore sucks up her uneasiness. If Jim wants a physical then he'll get one.

When she instructs Jim to lean forward she misses Jim's solar flare grin and the slight upturned Vulcan smile over her shoulder.


	3. Spock asks Lenore out

Spock follows the sound of laughter into Lenore's open office. Nyota sits in one chair while Lenore sits on the edge of her desk. It offers a pleasing view of Lenore's legs in her regulation blue skirt. 

The laughter subsides into muted giggles at the sight of a Spock, he finds himself disappointed to have interrupted them. 

He nods at Nyota, his lips turning up into a slight smile. His relationship with Nyota may have terminated but he found that he was immensely greatful that his friendship was unaffected. He had learned much about himself and his human half while with her. 

Lenore got herself under control, her skin still had a shadow of red in places the physical demonstration of her mirth. 

"What can I do for you Spock?" 

Nyota stood and bid Spock and Lenore a hearty goodbye. Spock took Nyota's seat when Lenore waved at him to sit.

"You have been absent in the last four chess game nights that the captain has invited you to."

Lenore leans forward slightly, "Look Spock your relationship with Jim is still pretty new right? We humans call it the honeymoon stage,"

"I am well aware of this social construct," Spock replies sharply. Disliking the tone in the doctors voice. He may be half Vulcan but he had grown up with a human mother and had spent years on Earth. 

"All I'm saying is that at this point in the relationship couples like to spend time with each other. Learning about each other." Lenore says reasonably. 

He finds he dislikes that as well although in the past he has noted Lenore's emotional rather than reasonable outbursts in the past. 

"I'm just giving you guys a little room," Lenore continues, "God knows privacy is a thing of the past on a starship. Everyone's gonna know your buisnsss sooner or later" 

Spock was aware of the fact that human gossip travelled faster than any communication device yet known. It was an unfortunate side affect of his relationship with Jim but Spock was willing to forgo a modicum of privacy to be with Jim. 

"How long do you perceive such a grace period?"

Lenore sat back, leaning on her arms, Spock felt that this position was almost preferable to the first. 

"I dunno, till the shine comes off Jim and you want to strangle him again,"

"That may be sooner than later," Spock replies. Lenore shrugs one shoulder good naturedly.

"Well I can't give you any first hand knowledge but it's usually around a month before Jim pulls a, well a Jim"

A month was an unacceptable amount of time to be deprived of Lenore's company. 

"Is there an exception for what you human's call best friends?"

"C'mon Spock you and I argue enough on duty you want to include our off hours as well? I don't think Jim's blood pressure could take it"

The simple answer was yes: if Lenore was amenable he would do so and happily. Although he preferred the option he and Jim had devised better.

Spock decides on a truth, not THE truth he and Jim had stumbled upon. But enough to gauge Lenore's interest. 

"I find our conversations--" he pauses at the unflattering noise Lenore makes, then carries on as if the interruption hadn't happened "--intellectually stimulating"

"Well we're both scientists id hope we'd have interesting conversations or we're doing our jobs wrong"

"--and have subsequently found the absence distrsssing

It was no slight to Jim, the captain had many talents but his interest simply did not extend to the field he and Lenore shared. 

Lenore stared at him, deep brown eyes assesssing him.

"You know we have a five year mission right?" She rolls her eyes. "Plenty of time to get into each other's pockets"

There is a pause wherein Spock is unwilling to press the point but refuses to let the point go.

"Fine! If you're so desperate to argue with me then I'll come and badger you next chess game. But you'd better kick Jim's butt. The last time he won he crowed about it for two days. I almost hypo'd him."

Spock refrains from mentioning that that would be a breach of her role as CMO, or that silently agreed with her. 

"Would you be amenable to eating dinner with us prior to the game?" Spock asks.

Lenore considers, "why not? At least then I can keep an eye on what Jim is eating"

"I can provide you with a meal sheet of the captain's intake if you would like" Spock takes a shot at humour.

Lenore grins and Spock feels inordinately pleased to have been the cause. Debating with the Doctor was always enjoyable but he was learning that the laughter and smiles were just as stimulating and pleasing. 

"Let's not go overboard, I don't think Jim would like us ganging up on him," 

Spock has first hand knowledge that Jim would love that very thing but refrains from saying so. Courting Nyota had been a natural progression from admiration to deep affection. His courtship with Jim had been faster and deeper. Given Lenore's previous relationship, Spock deducted that a slower courtship was called for. 

Lenore stands the folds of her dress falling to regulation height just above her knees. Spock found that detail very important.

"Keep Jim in line on the bridge alright?" Lenore says good naturedly, "I don't want to see you in sickbay" 

"I shall endeavour to do as you wish," Spock says. Lenore looks at him, unused to Spock conceding so easily. It brings something soft and vulnerable to her eyes. 

"Get out of my sickbay before I find a reason to hypo you as well" was her brusque reply.

Spock did so.


	4. And the bad news

The death of crewman Phillips on an away mission filters its way through the ranks. Jim is stone faced and white when he is given the news. The Doctor does not appear that evening for their appointed dinner date.

Spock is uncharacteristically glad to find sickbay empty except for nurse Chapel who solemnly directs him to the CMO's quarters. 

Lenore answers after exactly ten and a half seconds, dressed in an over sized sweater that bares one shoulder, leggings and too large socks. 

"I told Jim I wasn't in the mood to watch your chess game--" Lenore says, she doesn't sound like herself. Spock cuts her off, an action he would usually abhor but he can't stand the doctor's tone. It is not full of ire or exasperated affection for Jim. 

"I have come to inquire after your health," Spock says, "your attempt to save Phillips life was...difficult"

It is not a precise word. Ten hours of surgery if Spock had heard correctly. 

"I'm fine. Just tired. It needs to run through my system. You can tell Jim I'm fine. You can ask M'Benga he cleared me for duty,"

Spock realises that Lenore thought he was inquiring after well being in his capacity of first officer. Indeed he had spent much of the day asking the question of many of the crew to assess the wellbeing of the crew. He had been suitably impressed with their resilience. 

Spock didn't particularly want to have this conversation in the hallway but Lenore did not look in any hurry to invite him in and he was at a loss at how to ask. 

But there was one thing he wanted to make clear.

"I am not here in an official capacity. Jim and I were concerned--"

"In fine," Lenore says again. There is no room for debate. Her tone is not unkind, just firm. Spock does not point out that repeating the word 'fine' did not make it so. Even among humans. "I just have lots to do. Paperwork."

Death along with its unpleasant ramifications to the individual and those left behind also left paperwork. 

"you have been in surgery for much of the day perhaps it would he more logical for nurse Chapel to complete...."

"I'm fine," unconsciously Lenore straightens her spine in defiance of Spock's innocuous statement. He should have remembered Lenore's volatile nature when questioned about her competence. 

He wonders what would have happened had Nyota  
made the statement. He was sure it would have been met with more warmth. 

Sometimes, even for him, it was difficult to remember that although his feelings towards the doctor had changed towards the romantic, hers had not. It made for some uncomfortable conversations.

Spock decides to go out on a limb-a phrase recently employed by Jim and which he had found covered Jim's leadership very well. 

"I am inquiring after your health as a friend, not as first officer"

Lenore rubs a hand across her face, she looks tired, it makes him want to reach for her as he would Jim in times of stress but he refrains. 

"I'm sorry Spock, I'm just tired. It's difficult to know you've done your best and it's not enough. I keep thinking there must be more I could do--or if I were smarter..."

Spock had witnessed humans to this before, even his own mother when she had been judged by Vulcan standards and not her own. Despite scrupulously following protocol of her adopted home world it had not been enough. 

Lenore has stretched to the limits of her vast knowledge and had come up short. Spock had found this illogical.

It pained him that we was unable to offer her reassurance as he did to Jim in these times. 

Lenore's sentence trails off, there is something off kilter about her. Her demeanour less gruff. Spock would have been happier if she had given him nothing more than a gruff "I'm fine hobgoblin, go away," and slammed the door in his face. That, although unpleasant was a known quantity. 

"If you desire company..."

Lenore shook her head, "no, I can't..." she drew herself up, further, shedding some of her vulnerability. Although he couldn't see it Spock felt as if a transparent steel door had slammed between them. 

"I just need to be alone, I'll be back tomorrow." She made as if to slap him on the shoulder jovially, like Jim and then paused, the hand drifted to her side. "Look after Jim, okay?"

Spock had mastered the art of 3D chess from a young age, and yet staring at Lenore right that second felt suspiciously like Jim's first checkmate. 

He was boxed into a corner, Lenore was in no mood to be comforted and Spock was sure he lacked the tools to do so. But he was ready to learn, if Lenore was willing to teach him. 

When they argued, one left in possession of the field, with the slightest promise to the other of an opening, a next time. This exchange felt final. 

Without another line of attack, Spock ceded the ground, biding Lenore a good night as human custom demanded although he doubted Lenore would sleep.

He doubted he and Jim would either.


End file.
